10 March Tussles Worth Watching

Rick
Hawn (above) will help kick off Bellator’s fourth season on
Saturday. | Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com

Call it March Madness for MMA.

Rarely has there been such a glut of quality matchups outside of
the major promotions, a clear sign that competition around the
globe continues to improve. Hot prospects and wily veterans are
struggling for their respective cracks at the big time, and
promoters from the United Arab Emirates and Russia to Canada and
Sweden are becoming more and more competent at putting together
entertaining bouts.

Below follows a rundown of 10 hidden gems for March.

As always, the list does not focus on the well-promoted main
event bouts from major organizations you already know to watch, but
rather on fights from all over the planet that are worth seeing.
The
UFC, Strikeforce,
Dream
and Sengoku Raiden
Championship are excluded by design.

Bellator Fighting Championships Season 2 middleweight
tournament winner Shlemenko returns to what has all but served as
his home promotion in Europe -- Finland’s Fight
Festival. A kickboxer, he hails from Omsk, Russia, the same
city in which UFC lightweight Dennis Siver
was born. Shlemenko battled his way through the Bellator tournament
in 2010, knocking off favored Americans Jared Hess
and Bryan Baker.
He will face another American -- “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 11
semifinalist Josh Bryant
-- at Fight Festival 30. The Oklahoman bounced back from his first
career loss to Kyle Noke by
winning the Freestyle Cage Fighting title in December.

It has been two years since Eklund, Europe’s former number one
lightweight, last saw action. It has been almost as long for
Hytten, who was one of the aces for the now defunct European Vale
Tudo promotion. The two fought to a two-round draw under the Shooto
Finland banner in 2003. VFC is quickly establishing itself as the
No. 3 promotion in Sweeden behind Superior Challenge and The
Zone.

Will Gugenishvili ever follow in the giant footsteps of the once
overpowering Fedor
Emelianenko? His promoter at least hopes the undefeated
Georgian goliath will become the heir to the throne of “The Last
Emperor” at some point. The last designated crown prince, Kirill
Sidelnikov, cracked under the enormous pressure of such
expectations and wobbled into obscurity. The fact that
Gugenishvili’s native country has produced decent heavyweights in
Zaza
Tkeshelashvili and Tengiz
Tedoradze should help him find the courage to tackle this
seemingly impossible task. He kicks off his 2011 campaign against
boxer Maxim
Grishin for the inaugural M-1 heavyweight strap.

Unparalleled injury misfortune has kept Materla out of the squared
circle for much of the last three and a half years, a brief
one-fight comeback two years ago notwithstanding. Six years ago, a
21-year-old “Cipao” was considered the spearhead of a young Polish
generation that was not just tough but very technical. The
then-undefeated Szczecin native fought a war with the feared
Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos and won the KSW 6 tournament. One of
the victims on Materla’s path to that title was reigning KSW
middleweight champion Kulak, who opposes him in this comeback.

Judo is the name of the game in this marquee Bellator Season 4
welterweight tournament quarterfinal. Wallhead, a three-time
British junior judo champion, has emerged as one Europe’s premier
welterweights. His opponent, Hawn, has competed at a much higher
level -- the Olympics -- in judo but only has a fraction of
Wallhead’s in-ring experience. The Brit has long been hailed as a
sleeper who could become a huge success when given the opportunity
for which he has patiently waited.

If Jussier
"Formiga" da Silva and Co. have to struggle for the acceptance
of the 125-pound weight class, what is Somdet, arguably the
strongest 115-pound fighter in the world, to do? “M-16” will take
on No. 1 contender Ito for the Shooto flyweight strap. Fans are in
for a standup treat, as Somdet comes from a muay Thai background
and Ito touts two professional boxing bouts under his belt. It also
serves as a battle between generations, as the 36-year-old champion
takes on a challenger 12 years his junior.

Both men possess the quality to compete on the highest stage.
Horwich became the first fighter to submit former UFC title
contender Thales
Leites in 2010, though that triumph was sandwiched between
unfortunate and controversial decision defeats.

He also knocked out three-time NCAA Div. I wrestling champion
Jake
Rosholt. Many felt Villefort’s release from the UFC following
an injury stoppage was premature. The American Top Team black belt
has won three straight since, most recently against former King of
the Cage champion Joey
Villasenor.

Originally scheduled for Jan. 30, the second rounds of United
Glory’s kickboxing and MMA tournaments were postponed to March when
key fighter GÃ¶khan Saki was unavailable due to injury. That was a
blessing in disguise for Alessio who also would have missed the
January date with an injury. Now, his meeting with Shooto champion
Bahadurzada appears good to go. It will mark the second fight at
welterweight for Bahadurzada, MMA’s top Afghan fighter.

Before he reports for April duty under the Road FC banner in Korea,
the native country of his father, former Pride Fighting
Championships welterweight grand prix finalist Kang has some
unfinished business in his homeland. There, he takes on “The
Ultimate Fighter” Season 7 outlaw Taylor. Kang has lacked
consistency of late, alternating between world-class and sub-par
performances, sometimes even within the same fight. Taylor, on the
other hand, enjoyed a strong 2010, winning four of his five fights.
Kang’s widely underused submission game could be the X-factor in
this equally matched showdown.

Stakes are high in the final of the $270,000 Abu Dhabi FC
tournament, and the matchup looks like a great one. In one corner
stands Oliveira, the local hero, the judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu
black belt and national wrestling champion of Brazil. In the other
stands Abdurahimov, a powerful and unorthodox striker out of
Makhachkala in Dagestan. Some view him as the top heavyweight in
Europe. Who will walk away with the big check and a possible ticket
to the big leagues?

Contact Tim Leidecker at www.facebook.com/Rossonero1 or follow
him on twitter @Rossonero1.

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